Merlin!

Tricky this one. On the one hand, I quite liked the tentative, sort-of burgeoning romance of Gwen with Arthur - some people have said that they thought it's moving too fast, but to be honest? It felt about right to me. In particular, I see much less reaction from Gwen, compared to what we see in Arthur. She is properly wary, and I'm glad of that, I think a servant in that position would be a fool not to be worried about such a liasion - she could be kicked out without references once it stops, after all, or worse, if she fell pregnant, for example.

OTOH I'm not sure that it's great that what we see is the great and wonderful Arthur (as he's meant to be at some point) only showing any humility, or learning any lessons from a servant, because he wants to get in her knickers! After all, Arthur immediately turns around and treats Merlin appallingly, and what? Are we meant to find it funny?

Now if Arthur could be nice to Merlin for a bit, that would make me happier, because I could at least imagine he might want to get into Merlin's knickers too :) Not to mention it would feel a bit more like the relationship they had by the end of the last series. I don't think they needed to take this big a step back from the established dynamic myself. Even little kids are not this dim. I love Merlin, I don't find it in the least bit funny to see him abused.

Not to mention, his reason to not take things further with Gwen was a poorly chosen excuse on Arthur's part - I shouldn't imagine that Uther would care that much if Arthur decided to tumble a willing servant, surely? Wasn't it almost expected?

Also, poor Adrian Lester was shamefully underused, which was a waste, but the jousting was fantastic! I had a little 'A Knight's Tale' shiver! And Colin... Merlin is more adorable by the day! His little tirade was wonderful, I wanted to wrap him up and squish him to death. And then feed him *nods firmly*

Still, it's early days yet, they have time to build up to fantastic Merlin and Arthur, and they bloody better! And in the meantime, I can speculate on questions like... You would have thought that Gwen could afford to buy a skirt, rather than wandering around the palace in just her chemise, wouldn't you? Perhaps the fancy bodice cost so much she couldn't afford the skirt as well? Or maybe that's how servant girls catch their Princes - by wandering around in their underwear? It's no wonder Arthur wants into her knickers - he can practically see them! :)